Pigeon Pea (cajanus cajan) 30 seeds

Pigeon Pea, aka Gandules, is a popular perennial legume originating in India, made popular centuries ago in Africa and now being grown and eaten throughout the Caribbean as a staple protein crop. Gandules beans can be harvested and eaten green (shelled, not whole with the pod), or can be allowed to dry on the plant and cooked as a dry bean. In India they are used in popular Dhaal dishes, and in the Caribbean they are cooked with rice for the popular dish "arroz con gandules".

The plant is popular in permaculture gardens as it is quite drought resistant, tolerant to poor sandy soils, and has many uses. As a perennial legume, pigeon pea can be used to fix nitrogen in a garden with poor quality soil, produces protein rich food, can be used as a forage crop for animals, and also has edible flowers. The tropical woody plant can grow to be up to 4 meters tall, so its best planted in the ground as part of your edible landscaping or perennial plant guild, and not in an annual vegetable bed. If growing outside of the tropics we recommend treating this plant as an annual, perhaps using it to fix nitrogen while creating biomass for composting and bean pods for eating before it succumbs to cold weather. Price for seed packet includes shipping in a simple envelope.

All seeds were harvested from our organic urban farm and plant nursery in 2018.

Seeds have been tested for reliable germination in our nursery at 80 degree daytime temperatures. We recommend using them within 1 year of date of purchase.

A note on the diverse sizes and colors of the gandules seeds we are selling: We harvested seeds for saving from a few different genetic strains all being passed around the Miami garden scene and casually planted without care for varietal specifics. some beans are smaller, some larger, some brown and some black! Its all part of the fun of saving seed from your friends and neighbors.